Brave and Kind
by macrauchenia
Summary: Covering his mouth to hide his creeping smile, Armin finished the story. "The knight woke the princess with, uh," Armin blushed slightly at her uncharacteristically curious expression, "true love's kiss and they lived happily ever after." - When the 104th division recruits are given an unique assignment, Armin reveals the needed qualities to be a knight in shinning armor. [AruAni]
1. Act I

**Disclaimer: **SnK/AoT belong to their rightful creators. I own nothing. This is purely for my own sick enjoyment.  
**Author's Note:** I really have a major issue of sitting down to write a nifty little drabble and it mega-evolves into a couple-thousand word story. I broke this up into two parts plus an additional epilogue if people really want it.  
Also, fun fact. This is the first story that's tagged as "humor" that I've done in four years. Also, this is my first "romantic" story. Go big or go home, aye?  
As always, I apologize for OOC-ness. The characters might be slightly off, since this is a bit crack-y.

* * *

Keith Shadis was a cruel man.

His sense of humor was even crueler.

Only days short of their graduation, the drill sergeant announced the last squad trial, a horrible, embarrassing task that made many reconsider their decision to become a soldier. Shadis confessed his secret adoration of the arts and demanded that each team of five perform some sort of homage to the creative elements that were obviously lacking (for good reason) in the desolate camp.

Few believed Shadis was the sincere artist he pretended to be and none doubted that seeing their poor, startled, mortified faces was his true intention.

Because they had lasted for three years and didn't desire giving up then, a majority of the young recruits decided to suck up their dignity and give a cruel man something to smirk at. However, few were not pleased at all with the assignment.

Shadis gleefully placed these reluctant children in the same group, because why not?

* * *

"Armin Arlert!"

The blond jumped and scuttled to where the drill sergeant was pointing. He stepped quickly into place and avoided the older man's glare. When Shadis had informed the new recruits of their newest task, it was Arlert who had reacted the most. Whether from terror or excitement (Shadis hoped it wasn't the latter; he so loved terrorizing the blond), the boy had paled considerably and shook slightly.

"Connie Springer!"

Armin's spirits rose slightly at the name. He would at least have one friend on this devilish quest, even if the shorter boy was as reckless as a newborn animal. Connie grinned at the blond and the latter returned the expression with a faint smile.

"Eren Jaeger!"

_Yes!_ Eren all but ran to the spot where Connie and Armin were, grinning widely. This was the first time in a long time that Eren had been on the same team as the blond. He missed his friend's smile.

"We are so going to win," Armin heard an excited whisper to his left and felt a warm hand briefly clasping his shoulder.

"Jean Kirstein!"

At the mention of the brunet's name, Eren's excitement instantly deflated. The hand on Armin's shoulder slipped off and balled into a tight fist. Armin suppressed the anxiety bubbling in his throat. With Eren and Jean on the same team, they would get _nothing_ done.

The moment Jean's name was called, dirty gestures and snide looks were instantly tossed between the two taller boys. Armin tried not to let his hopes drop, but judging by Shadis's sly smirk, there was one more spot on the team and the drill sergeant knew just who to pick to cause the most carnage.

Armin tried to reason through the team so far. Connie was nice enough, but there was always common sense lacking. Jean and Eren were fine as individuals, but together they were toxic to anything around them. Armin himself guessed that Shadis had put him on the team because it was unlikely anyone would listen to his ideas.

"Annie Leonhardt!"

Never in a million years would Armin ever had predicted that Shadis would have paired the blonde on the same team as him. Shadis's glinting eyes cinched it for the boy that the drill sergeant had his reasons for building the team that his did.

If Annie was surprised about being selected as the last member of the team, she didn't show it. Eren and Jean were so startled by the development that they momentarily paused their bickering and exchanged "_she's_ on our team?" scoffs. Even Connie's smile faded a few degrees.

Determined to show at least some positive emotion, Armin tried to smile reassuringly at the girl and received a cool glare for his troubles.

"Hello, Annie," he added brightly to the back of the girl's blond bun. "We're glad you're on our team."

The girl turned slightly, eyeing the taller blond with a disdainful glare. "Don't lie to me, Arlert." She glanced away and continued walking, brushing past an arguing Jean and Eren and a bemused Connie. The latter laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Some team, huh, Armin?"

Armin groaned and dragged his hand down his face. He knew Shadis was enjoying himself immensely.

* * *

Surrounded by the people who were doomed to crash and burn with him, Armin could not for the life of him figure out what sort of art medium could incorporate all of their skills.

First of all, music was out completely. After Jean boasted about his Trost-renowned voice, Eren challenged him to a signing competition. Knowing from personal experience of how painful his friend's voice could be, Armin quickly broke up the contest. No music.

Despite his annoying flaws, Connie was the most versatile member of the group. He was funny enough to perform and had a sharp enough eye to pair colors well.

When they weren't consistently trying to one up each other, Jean and Eren also had potential in several aspects. Eren was capable of being a passionate thespian while Jean had accidentally revealed his skill of drawing with a confiscated sketch of Mikasa.

Armin knew that he was capable of anything if it involved his mind and not his less impressive strength, but the notion of performing on a stage made the blond slightly queasy.

Annie was the hardest to judge, partially because he knew so little of her and partially because of her blatant, disregarding attitude towards nearly everyone and everything in the 104th division. He didn't know what kind of talents she possessed and he was too intimidated by her icy stare to ask.

"So…what're we gunna do?" Connie posed the question, rocking back and forth slightly.

All eyes except for a pair of crystalline blue focused immediately on Armin. The blond sat up and frowned with a weak "What?"

"You're the smart one," Jean rolled his eyes.

"Don't tell us you don't have any ideas, Armin," Connie added with a nod of the head. "Come _on! _You _always_ know what to do."

"Uhm—"

"Why don't you tell them the story you always told me," Eren suggested, interrupting a flushing Armin.

"How's that going to he—"

"_Shut up!"_

"Uh, do you want me to tell the story after all? I mean, we may want to design our, uh, thing after it," Armin asked hesitantly.

"Sure, why not."

"Whatever."

"Tell them about the one with the 'knight,' Armin!"

The blond boy nodded once and began the story with a brief smile. Although his team was the unlikeliest of teams, some of his doubts vanished as he was able to dive back into his fantasy world. "Once upon a time...there was a beautiful princess who lived in a shining tower…" He would break himself out of the fairy tale periodically to look at the engrossed faces around him.

"The evil wizard guarded the tower with a mighty dragon—"

"What's a dragon?"

Eren was eager to answer for the blond. "A dragon is this really big lizard with wings and it shoots fire out of its mouth!" The brunet pantomimed the beast's flight with huge sweeps of his arms that "accidentally" smacked the back of the taller brunet's head.

"Hey, watch it Jaeger!" Jean wrinkled his nose and crossed his arms. "Besides, nothing like that exists."

"It did once upon a time," Connie retorted, not realizing that the phrase meant in a time where things were magic and unreal. Armin glanced up at the sky and suppressed a smile.

"Uh, can I continue?" Armin's question was met with vigorous nods and he took a breath and continued retelling the fairy tale.

"Scared that the princess would run away, the evil wizard put the beautiful princess under a spell that made her fall into a sleep so deep it was almost like death."

A collective gasp rose from the boys and even Annie looked slightly less bored.

"A very brave knight heard of the sleeping prin—"

"What's a knight?"

_"Stop asking so many damn questions, Springer!"_

"It's like a Survey Corps member with only one sword and no 3DMG," Eren responded quickly, glancing back towards his oldest friend for approval. "Knights are really brave and really strong."

_And kind,_ the blond added in his mind. He looked back to see Eren watching him expectantly.

_"_Oh, yeah. You're right." Armin nodded with an amused smile as Connie shot Jean a snide glare.

"Thank you, _Eren."_

"It's foolish not to have 3DMG," Annie muttered softly under her breath. "Knights must not be smart or just suicidal then." The girl's first comment caused everyone to blink, but when she didn't elaborate, Armin continued the story cautiously.

"Uh, anyway, the knight slayed the dragon—"

"Yeah!"

"—defeated the evil wizard—"

"Aw, yeah!"

"—_and found the princess in the sleeping tower_," Armin rushed before Connie could interrupt again. He paused, wondering how he was going to phrase the last part.

"Well? What happens?" Jean's gruff voice belied his wide eyes and forward-inclined shoulders.

Armin glanced around the circle and observed the expressions of his peers. Although this was perhaps the hundredth time Eren had heard the story, his wide smile and clasped hands made it seem as if it were the first time Armin had told it. Jean was trying to look unamused, but he was doing a poor job of it. Connie was all but trembling with suppressed excitement.

However, Armin was most surprised by Annie's reaction to the story. The girl was watching the blond intently, but instead of smiling or laughing, she simply pursed her pink lips together as if in deep thought.

Covering his mouth to hide his creeping smile, Armin finished the story. "The knight woke the princess with, uh," Armin blushed slightly, "true love's kiss and they lived happily ever after."

Stunned silence followed the boy's story.

"Is that it…?"

Jean scowled slightly. "A _kiss_ broke the spell? That's impossible."

"_True_ love's kiss," Eren reminded him with a raised index finger.

"So? What does that have to do with any—"

"It's just a story," Armin interrupted quickly, bringing both of his small hands up in front of his chest. "It doesn't have to make sense."

Suddenly, Connie jumped to his feet with his hands resting at his hips. "_I _want to be the evil wizard," he announced loudly to those around him.

"If Springer's the wizard, then _I'm_ the dragon."

"No fair! You said dragons were stupid."

"I changed my mind." As soon as the story was over, both of the brunets were back to their arguing.

"Wait!" Armin shouted over the boys' quarrel. "Does this mean you want to act out the story for our assignment?"

"Uh, _duh!"_

"Whatever…yeah."

"Of course!"

"Yes."

Armin blinked at the assembly of mediocre thespians around him, slightly touched by their obvious love for his story. Even Annie, emotionless, uncaring Annie, looked vaguely excited for the upcoming performance with a light peach tinging her pale cheeks.

"Well, then. I guess we need to find something to wear."

* * *

Instantly deeming himself costume master, Connie disappeared, loudly proclaiming to the other groups that "they were going to win" and inquiring if anyone had a clean bed sheet they could borrow.

Armin turned to the rest of his cast (for now the pride of leadership had him calling himself the director in his mind). "We can try to sort out roles once Connie comes back," he began, halting the impending argument between Eren and Jean in its tracks. As Annie was the only girl, he didn't want to state the obvious—_Annie has to be the princess—_but he wasn't feeling brave enough to announce it officially yet.

"Since everyone seems to know the plot really well, we can work on other details like making something that looks like a tower." Armin pursed his lips together. His grandfather had once described a play to him, but it had been many years ago. He had also read about theatre in his history books and he was trying to duplicate the same style as the thespians had in the past. "Two people can create the tower and two can find things to decorate with."

"I'll do the tower!" Eren instantly volunteered.

Not wanting the chance to be paired with the surly Annie, Jean also quickly volunteered to work on the tower with Eren.

Armin turned towards Annie expectedly, but the girl had already turned her back and headed in the direction that her three other teammates had left. Armin followed her at a fair distance, opening and closing his mouth periodically but finding nothing to say to the blonde.

Once they reached a grassy plain with a light spattering of golden flowers, Armin finally summoned up the courage to speak.

"I noticed that you seemed to enjoy the story," he started uncertainly.

Annie stooped to pick up a few dandelions. "I've never heard it before."

"Did you like it?"

The blonde glanced away. "I agree with Kirstein. It wasn't realistic and the knight was incredibly stupid to risk his life for _love_." The girl's face pulled into a faint sneer at the last word.

Armin frowned. "That was the point of the story. Because the knight was brave and kind, he was rewarded."

"And what is _true love_ supposed to mean?" Annie's face was darkening quickly.

Armin straightened up and glanced heavenward. "I think…" he started slowly. "I think true love is what inspires people like the knight to save the princess. True love was enough to break the curse because it is s—did I say something wrong?" Armin broke off at the sight of his companion. With a surprisingly calm expression, the blond girl grated her thumb against the tender green stem of the flower and rubbed the golden petals off of the stalk with a smear of light green and yellow. Annie looked down at what she had done and an unreadable expression flashed across her face briefly. Quickly it then was replaced by her typical scowl.

The blonde dropped the mangled pieces of the flower and turned away quickly from the boy. "We have enough flowers," she announced, marching stiffly back to where they had just come.

Cradling the thin stalks in his hand, Armin hoped that the others were having more success than he was.

* * *

Connie reappeared thirty minutes later with a shifty expression and a handful of props. When probed about the origin of these objects, the boy merely replied with a nervous chuckle to "not worry about it." The short boy was already decked out in his wizard garb of a dark blanket tied around his neck as a cape and a large dark hat stacked on his bald head.

Armin surveyed the rest of the stuff in front of him with a satisfied nod. "This should do." Connie had procured an extra-long cloak (most likely from Bertolt) that would be used for the dragon, a surprisingly clean bed sheet to serve as the princess's dress, and a wooden replica of their titanium blades and a barrel lid to serve as the sword and shield of the knight.

The crown jewel of Connie's successful excursion was the shining, glinting semicircle of assorted metals tied together to represent the princess's tiara. Although the head piece was painfully Connie-made, the sheer luminosity of the piece momentarily stunned the few gathered around it.

Looking down to the shimmering crown and back up to the face of the proud maker, Armin smiled slowly. He didn't even want to begin to imagine where half of the parts came from, knowing very well that Connie most likely didn't ask before borrowing the gems.

"This is perfect, Connie." The shorter boy's chest ballooned slightly.

"So now that we have the costumes, can we take roles now?" Jean asked. His wistful gaze had never left Bertolt's stolen cloak the entire time.

"Yes," Armin took a deep breath and waited for the chaos. He was bound to make an enemy over who wouldn't get to be the dragon.

However, fate took another surprising turn and their answer left Armin blinking at the two rivals. "We decided that in order to make the dragon look, uh, _dragon-y_, we both should play the dragon," Jean began.

"Wha—I mean, when did you decide this?"

"When building the tower," Eren gestured towards the haphazardly stacked pile of stolen bed flats and chairs. Armin eyed the precarious tower warily, feeling sorry for whoever was supposed to be the princess. "Dragons are big and are supposed to be scary."

"I'll be the front of the dragon," Jean announced proudly, puffing his chest out not unlike Connie.

A sly smile stretched across Eren's face. "It's supposed to be a dragon—not a _horse,_ Jean."

_"Jaeger!"_

Armin interrupted the two boys again before they had the chance to come to blows. "We'll work on that part later. We still have to finish giving out roles." Armin glanced expectantly towards Annie, waiting for her to pick up the garish tiara.

Instead, the girl reached towards the collection of props and neatly plucked out the wooden sword and makeshift shield.

"I will be the knight," she stated firmly, daring anyone to challenge her with a frosty glare.

Dead silence followed the girl's claim as each of the boys swapped uncertain stares. Armin stared incredulously at the unclaimed tiara and bed sheet before wishing for the ground to swallow him up. His cheeks took on a reddish flush and he quickly clamped his parted mouth to prevent any further embarrassment. Connie was the first to break the silence with his loud chuckles.

"Princess Armin. It has a nice ring to it, don't you think."

* * *

The three recruits that had been the most excited about the performance were the three who were struggling the most during rehearsal time. As Armin tried to stop the bickering between the two parts of the dragon, Connie was attempting to add "special effects" into the show that no one else seemed to appreciate. Not surprisingly, Annie was missing, although she was technically the "star" of the show.

"What if the dragon wa—"

"Get off of my foot, Jaeger!"

"Get your foot out of my face!"

"Hey, Princess Armin! I think I found a way for the dragon to breathe fi—"

"Wait a second, Connie," Armin tore his gaze away briefly from the two squabbling brunets to look at the third young man who was sitting on the ground, fiddling with an old air canister. Beside the boy sat a forlorn lantern. The blond shook his head and turned back to the louder problem. "Eren, Jean, why don't yo—" Armin froze, suddenly remembering what Connie was doing and what he had been saying. _Oh no…_

"Connie! Please stop what you are do—_Jean! Look out!_"

"Eh, wha—_what the hell was that?!"_

Armin slowly lowered his hands that had previously covered his eyes and cringed. There had been a burst of light and heat and suddenly Jean's hair was smoking and Connie was missing an eyebrow. All four boys wore dumbstruck expressions as the tallest recruit slowly reached up and gingerly patted the tips of his singed hair. Jean's expression turned thunderous and he launched himself at the boy responsible.

_"I'mgoingtokillyou,Springer!"_

It took all of Armin's and Eren's strength to pull the furious youth off of the other and it took Armin a good five minutes to calm the former down while Eren poked curiously at the pale spot above Connie's eye where his left eyebrow used to be.

The commotion from the accident attracted several curious, paint splotched faces and even Shadis arrived just in time to regard the entire situation with an amused smirk. A still sizzling recruit trying to strangle another recruit with a missing eyebrow as a thin blond covered in flower petals and a brunet wearing an oversized cloak tried to pull the older boy off. In the distance, a lithe blond girl watched with arms crossed and an unamused expression. Without hesitation, the drill instructor announced that Arlert's group would be the last to go that night—the grand finale of fools.

* * *

**Thanks for reading!**  
If you've like to see an epilogue after the second part, please let me know!


	2. Act II

**Disclaimer: **SnK/AoT belong to their rightful creators. I own nothing. This is purely for my own sick enjoyment.  
**Author's Note:** I wasn't actually going to post this till next weekend, but everyone was so brave and kind (/shot) that I felt obligated to post the next chapter immediately. Don't forget to let me know if you want to see an epilogue! I personally think this chapter is funnier than the last, but we'll see, right?  
(Also, pretend that this is an annual thing and Erwin, Petra, Hanji, etc. did this when they were youngin's too)

* * *

Lance Corporal Levi was not happy.

Evidentially, he was the only one.

"I'm so glad Keith invited us to see this," a soft voice whispered in his ear. He glanced to his left to see Petra smiling widely. "I remember when we had to do this all those years ago."

"I didn't do it."

Commander Erwin overheard the conversation and looked over his shoulder at the two. "Weren't you in my group, Petra?"

Petra brought a thoughtful hand to her chin. "Auruo tried to sing and he ended up biting his tongue when he fell onstage. We all had to run laps for screaming and running away." The slight woman laughed lightly at the memory. The songbird in question muttered a disgruntled curse that caused the gathered adults (apart from one short, disgruntled man) to chuckle in unison.

Erwin nodded slowly, a ghost of a smile tracing his lips. "I guess we weren't in the same group. I was in the group that thought it was a good idea to paint a picture of Keith in some horrible costume." The leader's usually stoic demeanor crinkled into a seldom-seen smile. "It was a good thing I wasn't an artist, otherwise I would have been running with you."

Levi rolled his eyes and let out a scoffing puff of air. He was fortunate that Erwin hadn't forced him into training like the other scouts. It was unlikely that the strongest of humanity would have remained in the program if he had been forced to participate in Shadis's shitty idea of fun.

And yet, here he was, seated on a bench near the stage, surrounded by dirty, nervous brats who all had something "beautiful" to present that Levi couldn't care less about.

"Keith promised that the last one would be the best," Petra whispered to Levi. He shot her an indifferent side look and didn't respond. "I wonder what it'll be." The woman turned around slightly to catch a glimpse of the clearly nervous children sitting behind them. As Levi had correctly noticed, a majority of the recruits were covered in either paint or some other horrid material. Petra frowned slightly as she noticed one of the groups in the back looked partially charred.

_Oh my… I wonder what happened to them._

* * *

Only a few more groups had to go until it was time for their performance. As expected, a majority of groups created half-effort pictures of mountains and walls and titans. One particular gritty portrait was of a titan being ripped in half, originating from the group spearheaded surprisingly by Krista and Marco—two of the kindest people in the recruitment camp. Two other groups wrote poetry. The group containing Bertolt and Thomas rattled off a dark, depressing piece revolving around their imminent death while Reiner—obviously uncomfortable in a floral wreath—professed his love for the freedom of butterflies.

Armin watched the presentations with a continual nervous writhing in his gut. He couldn't by any means call the other groups' results "art," but their pieces were still relatively well put together, as opposed to his group's maniacal attempt at storybook theatre.

Only one other group had decided to attempt a play and it was rather odd, in Armin's honest opinion. The group contained Sasha and Mikasa as well as three other recruits he wasn't very familiar with and the performance revolved around Sasha trying to get the potato that Mikasa held. The ginger's loud shrieking and Mikasa's stoic face caused the play to be a little more than a poor farce, but the boys seated beside Armin were smitten with the performance.

As Armin's unfortunate group were crossing towards the stage to prepare themselves for their performance, they crossed paths with Mikasa's group leaving the stage.

"You were awesome on stage, Mikasa!" The raven-haired girl eyed the taller brunet curiously while her foster brother immediately jumped to her rescue.

"Shut up, Jean."

"Do you wa—"

Armin quickly congratulated the others on their performance and quickly ushered the three boys back stage where their costumes were waiting. Connie had remained dressed in his cape and hat since he had found them hours ago, but he didn't want to miss Armin's first time wearing the tiara.

Annie was already backstage, making weird, puckering faces at her reflection in a bowl of water. As Jean and Eren were off squabbling about the dragon costume again and Connie was unhelpfully making the situation worse, Armin was the only one to see the blonde in the act, but he didn't dare comment at risk of angering her again. He shuffled his outfit in his arms and when he looked back towards the girl, she was watching him with a bored expression.

_It's now or never. I have to tell her now. _

"Uh, Annie…?" She turned her head slightly. It was his signal to continue. "About the uh, last part… We can end the play right after you slay the dragon. I'll just get up. We really don't have to ki—"

A loud burst of applause interrupted the boy's stuttering attempt at communication. He closed his mouth and his shoulder sunk. Hopefully the girl got the message, because she was already stalking towards the edge of the curtain. Armin felt a presence at his neck and with a loud, tinkling sound, cold and sharp metal dug into his hair and scalp. The boy yelped slightly as amused chuckles arose from the three boys behind him.

"You make a beautiful princess, Arlert," Jean snickered, his head barely poking out from the oversized cloak. The shorter brunet was perched on Jean's shoulders and had been the one to deposit the homemade tiara on his best friend's head.

"Just like the stories," he smiled reassuringly at the blond. Armin suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. There was no mention in any of his stories of the _boy_ being the damsel in distress.

Armin swallowed and glanced around at the cast around him. "Are we all ready?"

Annie and Eren nodded once while Connie grinned widely underneath his hat. Suddenly Jean looked terrified.

"I—wait—_no._" Armin blinked at the taller boy. He was surprised that Jean was the nervous one. In all honesty, he thought either himself or Connie would be the one to get stage fright.

"What is it?"

"I…I think I _forgot_ my lines," the boy muttered, guiltily glancing to the side. He was doing everything to avoid Eren's astonished stare, as the two had been practicing their lines for the past three hours together.

Armin, on the other hand, had been kept from that particular loop. "Wait, Jean. You didn't _have_ any lines. You and Eren just make uh, dragon sounds. Right?"

Eren exchanged disappointed glances with the brunet beneath him. "You mean we don't actually have any lines? I thought dragons could talk…"

Armin opened his mouth to answer and then closed it. _Could dragons talk?_ "I'm…not sure…? I mean, I _guess_ dragons can talk. I don't know what they'd say thou—" Armin broke off at the large grin spreading across the two brunets' faces. Evidentially, they knew just what to say and Jean's stage fright had conveniently vanished.

From outside of the curtain, they could hear drill sergeant Shadis announcing the last presentation of the night. Armin took a hiccup-y breath and tried to smooth his tiara down as he stood in place.

"You will make a fine queen," Connie's playful hiss in his ear as he waltzed by caused the "princess" to flush a deep crimson while the evil wizard cackled loudly. The blond couldn't wait for this to be over.

* * *

"Once upon a time," Connie boomed in his loudest voice offstage, "there lived a beautiful princess named Princess Armin." A few snickers rose from the crowd as Armin hesitantly walked on the stage. However, the chuckles died down quickly and even a few jealous sighs arose at the sight of the boy's obnoxious tiara. Armin blinked rapidly, prayed his heart didn't spontaneously combust, and hoped that no one called them out for stealing their jewelry.

As Connie narrated the story off stage, it was obvious that the shorter boy was getting far too into the performance. The boy's voice lilted and crescendoed in the appropriate places and Armin could tell he made the right decision in volunteering Connie as the unofficial narrator.

"Princess Armin was loved by all for her kindness and beauty." Armin took a deep breath. He was certain Connie was now openly mocking him. "One particular suitor was the evilest wizard to ever wizard!"

Immediately, the boy hurled himself on the stage complete with an eerie cackle that caused the hairs on the back of Armin's neck to prickle.

"Princess Armin! I demand that you marry me!"

"Um, no thank you…?" Armin winced, waiting for the jeers from the audience. He spared a quick glimpse and noticed that everyone was watching with wide eyes. Connie had set up the performance perfectly.

"What do you mean 'no?'" Connie took a step forward with an over exaggerated expression of anger on his face.

Emboldened by his companion's eager performance and the lack of complaints from the audience, Armin crossed him arms and glared at the evil wizard. "I said _never!" _he declared loudly.

Connie winked at Armin before grabbing his arm and dragging the blond towards him. "Then you give me no choice!" The evil wizard whistled loudly and Eren and Jean swiftly bounded on the stage, making an odd combination of growling and spitting sounds as if they hadn't actually planed out what they were doing. Armin paled, hoping they didn't ruin the performance, but the audience seemed engrossed by the appearance of the dragon.

"Yesssss, Massssster?" they crooned in unison. The wizard preened almost obnoxiously at the title. Armin felt his jaw drop slightly and hurried to clamp his mouth shut again. _I can't believe they did it. They aren't actually fighting! This is working._

"Take Princess Armin to the highest tower you can find!" Connie glanced around and frowned. "I see there is no tall tower here." The boy lifted his closed fist and brought down his arm with a loud jumble of made up words. Something hit the stage with a heavy _splat_ and smoke arose, briefly blanketing the actors with smoke. When the smoke finally cleared, a large tower was leaning precariously in its proper place and Armin noticed Annie grimacing offstage with a slightly heaving chest. He was touched and surprised by her assistance, but he couldn't tell if she caught his brief smile.

More exclamations of awe arose from the seated recruits at Connie's impromptu magic trick.

"Now! Take Princess Armin to the highest tower!" he shouted, pointing towards the dangerous pile of chairs and bed flats. Jean reached through the cape to grab Armin but Connie stopped him with another command. Getting perhaps too into the performance, the evil wizard paced around the stage, gesticulating wildly as he revealed his evil plan to the stunned audience. He returned to where the princess was restrained by the dragon and rummaged in his pocket.

"First you shall be put under my spell!" Connie withdrew his hand, uncurled his sealed fingers and blew the gray particles on his hand into the blonde's face. Armin instantly collapsed, partially for following the story's plot and partially because he couldn't breathe. He tried to suppress the coughs wracking through his thin frame and only made his convulsions more apparent. Finally he was able to lie still, although breathing was still painful.

_I thought I told him no on the dust… _Armin groaned in his mind, squeezing his eyes shut tighter.

"Is...is he dead?" a trembling whisper rose from the crowd and was instantly hushed.

Connie threw back his head and cackled loudly. "Take the princess to the tower!"

Jean scooped down to pick up the prone Armin while Eren continued to make hissing sounds. The taller brunet carefully passed the blond up to Eren above him and Eren placed the still blond on top of the swaying tower. Armin turned slightly so he could watch the unfolding drama through half-slit eyes.

The three other boys quickly left the stage and Connie continued to narrate from the left side.

"A brave and kind knight heard the tale of the beautiful princess who was locked in a tower and knew that he—uh, I mean, _she_ would be the one to rescue Princess Armin.

Annie appeared on the right side. She tried to maintain an emotionless expression, but Armin could tell by her white knuckles around her wooden sword that she was nervous.

Connie bounded on the stage again, preening amidst the gasps from the audience. "What do you want, brave knight?"

"I've come to rescue the princess," Annie responded softly.

The evil wizard raised his eyebrows and laughed harshly. "With a weak answer like that, there's no way you'll save the princess."

Annie's expression darkened and she took a menacing step forward. "I _said, _I've come to rescue the princess." Connie took a step back with wide, panicked eyes. He wasn't sure if Annie was acting or not.

"Hey, uh, I was just ki—ugh!" Annie grabbed the wizard's dark cape, pulled him towards her, and jammed the sword underneath the boy's armpit.

Relieved that he wasn't more injured, Connie dropped to the floor groaning loudly over the gasps of the audience. After a five minute period of dying dramatically across the floor, Annie finished the wizard's scene by swiftly kicking him over the edge of the stage. Connie took the hint with a startled yelp and remained still on the ground.

Next, the dragon reappeared on stage. Jean and Eren both smiled tauntingly as they towered over the determined little knight.

"You can't beat usssss," they managed to his in unison again.

Annie narrowed her eyes. "Get out of my way." She tried to step around the massive figure, but Jean stepped neatly in her way. Armin could hear a rustling back stage as Connie prepared the last special effect. _I thought we told him no to that as well…_ As Jean and Eren both opened their mouths, Armin heard a faint hiss as Connie loosened the tightening bolt on the air canister. The shorter boy lifted a tiny flame on a makeshift wick and a massive fire ball exploded in the sky. The audience screamed and even Annie took a step back. Armin squeezed his eyes tighter as the heat from the flame made his neck hairs prickle. _He's going to kill us all._

The blonde knight was the first to recover. Suddenly Annie's leg was tangled up in Jean's and with a harsh tug, she sent both boys clattering to the ground. As his base was falling, Eren let out a panicked squawk and grabbed the nearest thing possible—the edge of the already tipping tower that a certain princess was "sleeping" on. Armin suppressed the urge to shout (after all, he was supposed to be sleeping) as the tower collapsed from under him.

Moments later, Armin felt a burst of white pain across the back of his head and the jewels on his tiara and his teeth rattled at the same frequency. He kept his eyes firmly closed so all he saw was darkness, but he could tell his irises were rolling up in his head. Armin could hear the groaning of Eren and Jean beside him, but he wasn't able to see their faces. Something that had previously been pinning his left arm to the floor was removed and he felt tiny hands grasp under his arms and pull him from the wreckage. He tried to open his eyes to stop the performance, but the light from the candles hurt too much.

"Armin?" Annie voice was soft like before, but instead of being flat, it was colored with a slight emotion. _Fear? Anger?_ Armin's head hurt too much to think. He felt a warm grip on his shoulder, but he had trouble believing it was Annie.

"_Princess_ Armin?"

_Who? Oh, me._ The boy's thoughts were slow and sluggish.

The girl hesitated before balling her fist in the fabric of Armin's shirt. The audience was deathly silent apart from a few sniffles. On stage, the only thing Armin could hear apart from the blood pounding in his skull was the dragon's soft, dying whines.

_Dragon? No—not a dragon. Jean and Eren. What's going on…?_

The blonde knight pulled the prone princess up with a gentle hand supporting the latter's neck and with a deep breath, pressed her soft lips firmly to Armin's lips. Shocked by the contact, Armin gasped and his crystalline eyes flew open. An electric current buzzed through the boy's system, running from his lips to his toes and banishing the pain that had previously incapacitated him. A cheer rose from the breathless audience as a small smile flickered across the awoken princess's face.

"You did it," the boy breathed, unsure of whether he was still portraying Princess Armin or just being Armin. Annie didn't say anything, but the red tint glowing along her cheeks revealed her subtle joy. Even though this was just an insignificant skit, both of them knew that that scene had been something far from trivial.

"You were brave and you were kind—the perfect knight," he whispered only for her ears.

Unable to allow someone else the last word, Connie bounced back onto the edge of the stage, but well out of the way of Annie's foot. "The power of true love's kiss awoke Princess Armin from her spell and uh," the boy paused and glanced back over to the couple with his jaw dropping. "Oh, wow…" _So not in the script. _

Digging her other hand into Armin's shirt, the blonde pulled the stunned boy back up to her face and pressed her lips tightly against the boy's smiling mouth. Annie could hear suggestive whistling and cheering from Reiner and her peers, but she didn't care. She had found her princess.

Connie rubbed the sore spot on his chest where Annie had kicked him and smiled at the kissing couple onstage. "And they lived happily ever after," he finished cryptically.

* * *

As soon as Connie finished speaking, the audience members were immediately on their feet applauding loudly.

Levi glanced to his side and was almost horrified to see that Petra had been crying slightly. Meeting the man's steely gaze, the woman hiccupped and smiled, dabbing at her eyes. Auruo beside them was balling his eyes out at the ending.

"I know it's stupid of me to cry, but that was really lovely. It was so romantic," she murmured to her squad leader.

The captain was equally disappointed with the wide, youthful smile on his commander's face and the high-pitch giggling coming from Hanji beside him. "Did you see those fantastic effects?" Erwin shook his head in disbelief.

"Shadis wasn't lying," the commander added. "This was the best one."

Levi looked around for the drill sergeant to see if this was what the man had expected. However, the bald man looked just as stunned as the rest of them, if not more.

"Did you like it, Levi?" Petra was watching him carefully.

The man shrugged. "It wasn't completely shitty."

* * *

**Thank you so much to everyone who read and reviewed and favorited and followed!  
**Also, thank you _Thyme_ for your awesome review. I couldn't reply via PM, so thanks!  
Like I said earlier, **let me know if you guys want an epilogue. **I warn you-it may not be what you expect...


	3. Epilogue

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing.  
**Author's Note: **Please don't hate me x.X

* * *

Annie didn't mean to hit him that hard. In her defense, she didn't know the boy had been suffering from severe headaches from his injury during the previous night's performance. One moment the boy had been squinting in the bright sun at his partner and the next he was unconscious on the ground.

Naturally, this struck the gathered recruits as hilarious, as only a few hours ago, Annie had been the one to "save" Armin. Now she was responsible for sending him to the medical wing.

Drill Sergeant Shadis also thought it was an ironic twist of events (after all, he had been banking on some sort of disaster between the two starkly different blonds), but his pathetic recruits still had hand-to-hand combat training to work on and he quickly dispelled the giggling crowd.

"Kirchstein! Help Leonhardt take her princess to the infirmary!"

Jean gratefully accepted the new order and tried to avoid Annie's stony glare. Although Marco was being a considerate friend by pulling his punches, Jean was still sore and his leg pulsed incessantly, courtesy of a certain blonde knight. Anything to get him out of training was welcome and the unfortunate situation itself was enough of a revenge for him. He could hear the spectators' chuckling resume behind him.

Annie was already kneeling by the prone boy with a slight frown etched across her face. Jean couldn't tell if the girl was concerned or guilty, but her usually emotionless mask was slightly cracked.

The trip to the infirmary seemed to last forever and consisted of Annie staring straight ahead while Jean cursed the unconscious boy's weight repeatedly under his breath. Despite the fact that the resident assistant had assured both of the children that they were free to return to training, Jean wandered offhandedly towards a nearby cabinet of medication, wondering which pill would bring his throbbing leg the most relief. He was trying to stall as long as possible to prevent returning to sparring practice. When the taller brunet turned back to check on his smaller friend, he was surprised to see the blonde girl standing by the unconscious boy's side. Although her gaze remained fixed on the boy's evenly rising and falling chest, her eyes were unfocused as if she were thinking of something else.

Jean's eyebrows rose as he watched the girl. Despite training with the girl for three years, he did not pretend to claim a relationship any more intimate than mild acquaintanceship—if that, considering what she had done to his leg unremorsefully a few hours previously. However, he was certain that the girl's icy exterior more often than not reflected her icy soul within. The brunet was surprised to say the least that she hadn't left already. Although she was to blame for Armin's accident, he didn't expect her to feel responsible or—heaven forbid—feel _guilty_ about what happened.

After their performance yesterday, though, Jean wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to think of the blonde. While he and Eren had been slightly preoccupied with digging themselves out of the rubble of Jaeger's brilliant plan, evidently the two blondes had discovered an unforeseen stage chemistry, according to Connie. Jean crossed his arms and continued to watch Annie.

Without even glancing at the interloper behind her (though Jean had a feeling she might not have noticed his presence), Annie placed a light hand on Armin's arm and pressed another smooth palm against the boy's purpling temple. Her fingers hesitated slightly before curling gently in the boy's dusty, tousled blond hair.

Marco (who, Jean was distressed to discover, fancied himself as a romantic) had described the kiss—rather, _kisses—_in great detail to Jean after the performance. Even when waking her princess from a magical slumber, Annie hadn't been particularly gentle. With his gathered evidence of the events of the previous night, Jean was amazed that the girl was showing this much restraint and tenderness.

_Still, weirder things have happened,_ he added in his head, thinking back to the disastrous miracle of a performance they had managed to pull off the night before.

_Speaking of miracles,_ Jean remarked dryly, watching the blonde stiffen and then slowly bend down to Armin's face. She brushed her lips softly against the boy's parted lips and pulled away with the ghost of an expectant expression on her normally stoic face.

Instead of waking up as he had in the play, Armin's parted lips merely faded into a content, sleepily smile and the boy's dark eyelashes fluttered before closing again.

However, this must have been enough of a reaction to satisfy Annie. The blonde leaned back and watched the sleeping boy with an unreadable expression.

Deciding then was the best time for Jean to take his leave, he slowly backed up and accidentally rammed into the medicine cabinet. The blonde girl jumped and pinned the wincing brunet with a lethal glare.

Without missing a beat, the brunet held up both hands in surrender and shrugged. "Won't tell a soul," he assured her. Her icy glare did not thaw and Jean took that as his _definite_ cue to leave. Suppressing another half-smile, he left the room, thinking of Marco's reaction when he would retell the story to his freckled friend.

How had Armin described the perfect knight? Something to do with kindness, Jean recalled. .He smirked, remembering the girl's uncharacteristically gentle actions.

_Annie's kindness was showing, though I'm not sure if it suited her. _He would never understand what the kid saw in her, but he wished the best for them both, he supposed.

* * *

"Uh, Armin, I don't thi—"

"It'll be fine," the blond replied nonchalantly with a dismissive twitch of his wrist.

"Are you sure? 'Cause Commander Erwin ordered that no one should be down here ever. And—well, especially _now." _Eren frowned at his distracted friend, feeling somehow that their roles had been reversed. Usually the blond was the level-headed, cautious one holding Eren back from making stupid decisions, but now the brunet was the nervous one standing guard and trying not to wince at each loud creak of the floorboards. Eren decided that Armin's role as the sensible friend was clearly harder than he had ever given him credit for.

"Armin, we really should go. We shouldn't be down here." Eren was doubly uncomfortable with the risky situation and the prone figure lying before them. Only hours earlier, Armin had burst into his room, face glowing with excitement, when he announced that they had found a way to crack the crystal Annie was entombed in. Eren was understandably less enthusiastic to hear the news, still feeling sore over the girl's betrayal and her traitorous actions.

If Armin was uncomfortable or angry, his body language revealed nothing. The blond boy was focused solely on the prone figure and glass shards before him. Although the crystal had shattered and exposed the girl's thin body to the stuffy air of her holding cell, she had yet to wake up, maintaining the same peaceful expression of blissful calm that she had worn while in the crystal. Hanji had feared that moving her would compromise the crystal and as a result left her partially entombed. At the current moment, her legs were still concealed within the cracked, shimmering prison. Had the girl any desire to break free once she woke, she only had to kick her feet to loosen the shards.

Now Armin was hovering dangerously close to the sleeping girl and her fragile cage. Eren thought about warning his friend again, but it was unlikely he would hear him, much less heed him.

_What is he doing?!_ Eren rubbed his face and ran a nervous hand through his messy, sweaty hair. Disregarding all boundaries and orders on the entombed girl, Armin slowly reached out and lightly stroked the girl's cold, pale face.

"Annie…? Please wake up…"

_Heichou is going to be so angry! _

Taking a deep breath, the blond knelt down, gently bumping his pale nose against hers. His pink, chapped lips brushed lightly against her frozen, pursed mouth. He pulled away, feeling his humid breath leak from his mouth and warm the girl's icy lips.

In the next moment, several things happened very quickly with no warning. Annie's crystalline eyes flew open at the boy's contact and a furious, shocked expression thundered across her once calm features. Her hands that had been clasped across her chest bunched into fists and before Armin could stutter out an apology, the girl was lunging for his face, knocking the boy to the ground with a strong punch to the side of the head.

Armin tumbled backwards with a startled yelp and Annie's jarring action shattered the remaining crystal binding her stiff legs. Exhausted by the effort and acclimating to her freedom, the blonde girl gripped the sharp sides of her self-interred prison. Her chest heaved violently as she stared down at the boy with mixed expressions of rage, confusion, and terror.

Eren gaped at his best friend who was slowly stirring amongst the shattered fragments of the girl's crystalline shell. He wasn't sure whether he should help the boy up or restrain the adjusting titan-shifter. An unfamiliar sound bubbled from below Eren and the boy started down at his friend in wordless shock, wondering if the girl's punch had damaged the blond in some way.

Propped up on his elbows, the blond continued to tremble with his eyes closed, head thrown back, and his mouth open wide. After a bewildering pause, Eren realized that his friend was laughing. Laughing the way they used to before titans and death became constant companions. Since the blonde titan-shifter's encasement in her diamond prison, Eren had yet to see a sliver of the emotion the blond was revealing now. The brunet watched his friend with parted, awestruck lips, thanking whatever miracle had returned his Armin to him.

Armin laughed and sobbed and laughed even louder in the tight, confined room, causing disjointed echoes to reverberate off the walls. Disbelief and unrestrained joy rolled off of the boy in heavy waves and Eren found it difficult not to smile. Even Annie, murdering, traitorous Annie, collapsed into quiet trembling when the blond looked into her eyes and whispered that he thought she would never do that again.

Armin reached for the girl and Eren turned away from the two, feeling as if he was intruding on a private reunion. He still hated the titan-shifter for everything she had done to him and his friends, but his clenched stomach loosened slightly at her hoarse, whispered apology.

For some odd reason, the entire, miraculous situation reminded Eren of the unfortunately unforgettable play they had performed while Annie was still pretending to be their friend. Had their play not revolved around a princess who was saved by a brave knight's kiss?

Annie had then played the knight in the production, but here Eren thought his friend was the brave one. After all, he had kissed the most dangerous prisoner of war against humanity who also had a personal grudge against the blond responsible for her captivity.

* * *

_No…no…no_…

He had saved her; she could not lose him now.

Annie moved in a haze towards the tattered remains of the returned wagons. He had promised. He had _sworn_ that she would be able to accompany him on the next scouting mission. Her foot caught on the uneven ground and she stumbled the last feet to where the boy's still body was arranged almost respectfully amongst the crimson-stained cloaks and worn supplies sacks. His pale, cold hands were clasped to his chest and his face was calm and composed.

She could have protected him; she could have saved him. She _should_ have been the one.

"Armin…?"

A trembling hand reached out for his face. A light, hesitant finger wandered across the boy's icy forehead, but recoiled when it became tangled in the boy's sticky, crimson hair. Annie pulled her hand from the prone body and stared disbelievingly at her stained fingers.

Connie, who had remained hunched to the side of the wagon, looked up weakly. "Annie—I'm—" he began, but stopped when he realized she hadn't noticed his presence. _I'm sorry… _he finished in his head, clamping his mouth shut.

She slowly twined her fingers in the boy's slick, tousled hair. How many times had she done this only for the boy to wake up again? Her mind pitched back and forth as she struggled to come to grip with the situation. Like the stories, everything would turn out fine. It had to. She was kind and bra—

Annie Leonhardt was not kind.

_(He wanted to tell her he's gone.) _

Her gently laced fingers curled into fists, holding the boy's blond hair in tight handfuls. She knew this would have hurt him, but she didn't care. She just wanted to see some sort of reaction from the motionless boy. Even a whimper of pain or a weak moan would show that he was alive.

But he did not stir, even as Annie smashed her lips forcefully against the boy's slack mouth, growling softly as she pressed a knee sharply in his cold gut. She wanted to hurt him so badly that he wakes up and smiles at her again. He did not cry out. He did not breathe.

Annie Leonhardt was not brave.

_(He wanted to tell her he's sorry.)_

She was terrified of having to spend a single day without the boy who saved her life in so many ways. He showed her the value of humanity and he showed her value to those who wanted her dead.

Feeling the salty heat of unshed tears bubbling along her lashes, Annie pressed her forehead against his sticky, cooling skin. She could feel the ghost of her own breath against her face. If she closed her eyes tightly enough, she could pretend that it was Armin's breath warm against her cheeks. Refusing to accept defeat, she forcefully pressed her mouth against the boy's cold lips and breathed all of the air in her lungs into his unmoving chest. Annie felt the boy's chest heave slightly from the sudden intake of breath and for a moment she felt hope deceive her.

A single, quivering tear fell onto the boy's dirty, bloody face and traced a shimmering, clean path down his grimy cheek. Annie had never cried for anyone else in her life. She was a coward for crying now. She wanted him to wake up, because she was afraid of being alone.

Connie averted his gaze and angled his body away from the tragedy. Never before had he hoped so hard for a childish miracle. True love's kiss to wake the dead—no, the merely sleeping. He buried his face into his trembling hands, hating the stupid, lying fairytale that had given him so much optimism in the first place.

What had he said all those years ago? That they would live happily ever after?

Connie felt something warm leak between his fingers.

_There is no such thing as "happily ever after" here… _

* * *

Well, that went from cute to funny to angsty in about 6.7 seconds.  
I swear to you, I cannot write anything happy. I promise I'll try to write some (non-death) fluff in the future to make up for it!  
**Thanks for sticking with me on this tiny, little adventure. **Maybe we'll cross paths again on the AruAni road? :D


	4. Epilogue II

**Disclaimer: **SnK/AoT belong to their rightful creators. I own nothing. This is purely for my own sick enjoyment.  
**Author's Note:** Not going to lie... This was actually titled "Project: Redemption" in my AOT/SNK writing folder. If you don't like this or if it's too OOC, I'm sorry. Just pretend this chapter doesn't exist and go back to the first epilogue. It's just that I felt compelled to write this after receiving more than two threats and apparently sending several of you into massive tear floods.

* * *

Despite the loud, vocal pleadings of a certain suicidal bastard and the silent wishing of another human-shifter, the blond tactician was not offered a separate, more intimate burial ceremony. When hearing the request, Commander Erwin hesitated and turned away, leaving Humanity's Strongest to be the one to emotionlessly state that giving Armin his own ceremony would only further demoralize the soldiers. However, the blond commander did not forbid a private observance and graciously gave the tattered, broken remnants of the 104th recruitment unit the night off from duty to grieve their losses properly before the cremation of the casualties the next day.

It was only fair to allow Annie to participate. Even Eren and Mikasa, who had been the most outspoken against the girl's transfer to the Survey Corps after her official pardon, willingly agreed to let the blonde say goodbye to her princess. The latter merely exchanged an impassive nod with the blonde while the former squeezed the girl's hand sympathetically in an awkward, painful handshake.

Annie stood the closest to the boy's prone body, which was still resting peacefully on the stained, recycled stretcher. She stared down at his pale, taunt corpse with wide eyes, though she wasn't crying. She had already shed her tears for the boy. She doubted she could muster up any more emotion to combat this emptiness in her gut. Even anguish or rage would be preferable to nothing.

The two remaining members of the Shiganshina trio stood on the other side of Armin's body, though neither looked at the distant, slight girl in front of them. The rest of the former 104th regiment gathered around Armin's body at a respectful distance, allowing the three who held a closer bond to the blond to get out their silent goodbyes first.

Eren was the first to break his stare with Armin's peaceful, clean face. He glanced to the side at his former rival and nodded once. He took a step back, which was mirrored by the expressionless Mikasa to his side. Jean filled the spot the two had just vacated and slowly dropped his gaze to the cold boy at their feet. There had been so much the brunet had wanted to whisper to him, but at the sight of the boy's corpse, all of Jean's snarky comments and wistful thanks died on his lips. It had reminded him too much of Marco. The brunet uttered a small "thank you" and quickly retreated from his position by the boy.

Seeing their brilliant friend so small and still affected each of the team members harsher than they had imagined, and soon only Connie and Annie remained by the boy's side. The latter hadn't moved an inch, keeping her solemn, blank gaze firmly on the boy. The former watched Annie's face carefully, noting with a wince each flicker of the girl's uncertainty when she thought no one was looking. He wasn't sure if any of the others had thought back to that night and that infernal play, but he remembered it as if it were yesterday.

"Annie," he started slowly. He wasn't sure if the girl had heard him. Apart from their one-sided whispered exchange earlier, this was the first time Connie had spoken to the blonde since she joined the Military Police all those years ago.

"Yes," she responded. Her voice was automatic and toneless, as if another part of her brain was responsible for speech while her emotions were compromised.

"I—" Connie hesitated. He never knew how to act around the enigma of a girl. Even before she was revealed to be the Female Titan, he never understood her and rarely spoke with her, since she always intimidated him. He sighed and peeked nervously at her blank face again. "I just wish it had all been true, you know?" Annie tore her gaze from Armin and blinked confusedly at the young man across from her. Connie shoved his numb hands in his pockets and stared up at the cold, distant stars to avoid her curious gaze. It was late and even the scant warmth of the lanterns surrounding them was not enough to keep the mist from rising with each breath.

"I just really wanted to believe in happily ever afters," Connie stated with another dejected sigh and excused himself with a polite nod of his head.

Annie watched him leave for a second before glancing back down to her icy hands, stained red by Armin's blood and the blistering cold; the girl swallowed a rising lump in her throat. Her fingertips traced hesitantly around the small circlet of silver on her numb, slight pinky. She was afraid to touch it, fearing if she placed one trembling finger on the ring, it would disappear just as Armin did. Annie cursed her irrationality and twisted the smooth, cool metal around her finger. It wouldn't matter if it disappeared, since Armin—the only one who knew the importance of the ring—was gone already. The others thought he had returned her infamous ring to her as a sign of good faith, but there was a secret meaning between the exchange that was meant only for the two of them. A promise the boy had meant to make good on when he returned.

Annie dropped her hands and sighed. It was no use thinking of it now, as nothing would ever come of it. She closed her eyes—

* * *

—and upon opening them, resisted the urge to roll them once again. She watched with narrowed eyes as Dr. Ackerman, the most skilled and precise surgeon on their entire staff, fretted like a mother hen over her adoptive brother. The "Suicidal Master" was what the others had dubbed the male emergency responder, as he was the one responsible for saving a remarkable number of victims after charging into dangerous and unstable situations. Annie didn't know why the boy was so obsessed with saving people. She supposed it might have been something to do with her past, but she didn't know the boy very well, other than he had a dangerous temper at times. What Annie did know was that Eren's heroic actions often angered the driver of the ambulance, Jean Kirschtein. He boasted that his superior driving was what enabled the brunet to reach the harmed and injured so quickly, though very few ever paid attention to the older man's exhausted claims.

"You're twisting that ring again, Annie," an amused voice sounded behind the blonde. The girl started and turned around to see who was speaking. Mina Carolina, one of Annie's friendliest patients, who was admitted to Survey General after a serious head injury, smiled up at the girl from her hospital bed. "You always do it when you're angry or anxious," she added.

Annie looked down at the tiny silver ring around her pinky. She hadn't realized she had been twisting it until she noticed the red, raw marks encircling her thin finger. It was a useless habit she had picked up, though Annie never knew where or when. As for the ring, it was an equally useless item she had slipped on one day without knowing why and she hadn't removed it since. Connie Springer, who worked at the gift shop on the main floor, was an obnoxious fan of the supernatural and claimed that the ring must've have been something important in a past life. Annie regarded the young man's mad ranting with poorly veiled skepticism.

"It's nothing, Mina," Annie answered after a long pause. Mina Carolina nodded patiently. She knew the blonde nurse was a private person who rarely shared her thoughts.

Reiner Braun, the newest intern to the nursing staff, on the other hand, did not mind intruding on Annie's personal thoughts. "She's just upset that they're taking that blond guy in a coma off of life support." Annie gritted her teeth and turned away, resisting the urge to bury a fist into the muscular blond's gut.

Mina blinked once, not sure if she knew who they were talking about. "Who?"

Another male nurse glanced over at the frowning girl and bit his lip. A small bead of sweat trickled down the side of his face, though it was relatively cold in the sterile room. "No one knows who he is," he answered nervously, watching Annie's face darken considerably. "Because no next of kin ever found us, we can't keep him on the machine anymore," he added sadly. "We've hit the maximum time allowed to keep him alive without consent."

"Oh," Mina murmured. She was sorry she asked.

"It's fine," Annie muttered, regretting how harsh and insincere her voice sounded. She lowered her gaze and backed out from the room.

* * *

It was true that no next of kin had ever claimed the young blond man lying in the bed. It was true that he was nameless and remained a mystery for as long as Annie or any of the others had been working at Survey General. The only person who had been present when the infamous coma patient was admitted was a particularly short and snappy head janitor, who no one wanted to involve themselves with.

However, the comatose young man was not nameless nor was he without a family. The small group of young and talented workers at Survey General had tentatively adopted the blond, often checking up on the patient several times a week each. The only indication of his identity had been a faded letter folded in his pocket that had since gone missing in an unknown storage locker on the third or fourth floor. The only visible words had been "Dear Armin" in a dark, pressed cursive that reminded Annie slightly of her own messy print.

So the boy was dubbed with the name "Armin" and became the favorite patient of those working at Survey General. The comatose young man soon transformed from a patient to a silent receiver of deep confessions and earnest wishes alike.

Of all the people who were a part of Armin's surrogate family, Annie Leonhardt was the most frequent visitor. Sometimes she came to vent when her day was stressful or when the others made stupid, offensive snarks. Sometimes she came to recount the little miracles in her day that made life seem bright and happy again. Sometimes Annie only came to watch the young man sleep, trapped in her own curious thoughts instead of voicing them out loud.

But sometimes Annie would tell Armin about her dreams. Dreams that found her no matter where she went or what drug she took. Dreams about horrific, bloodthirsty monsters with gaping grins and abnormally proportioned lumps for bodies. Dreams that sometimes included her coworkers and sometimes dreams just about she and Armin. In her dreams, he had a sparkling personality with a brilliance so bright it almost hurt to stare at him for long. He would laugh and he would cry and seem so human and real that Annie wasn't sure which hurt more. Seeing him alive in a world where nothing was real or lying almost dead in a world that was.

Often she would wake herself in a fit of terror when one of the monsters killed one of her coworkers—or worse, _him._ Even when she was able to suffer through one of the nightmares, it always ended with a flash of light and then nothing. She didn't understand what any of it meant and the indifferent uncertainty frightened her more than the boy's agonizing death in her dreams.

Even though she knew the young man's personality was merely a figment of her imagination, Annie knew she was slowly slipping into love with him. Every patient smile in her dreams or every steady rise and fall of his chest made the girl love him more and more, as if she had loved him deeply in a past life. Annie would never announce this to anyone (as only Connie would believe her), but she allowed the feeling to fester in her chest, nurturing the fire with light, hesitant touches and soft smiles as tinder.

* * *

It was the last moment before they had to official take Armin off of life support. Everyone had crowded around the young man's bed and each held an appendage or scrap of fabric as they waited for the inevitable last pulse of life. Even Connie Springer from the gift shop and Sasha from the dining hall were present, as was Mikasa Ackerman, who had managed to swap shifts with another surgeon. Even Jean and Eren were waiting, hoping desperately that emergency calls wouldn't force them away from the blond patient's bedside.

Although no one knew if Armin was religious or not, Reverend Smith was invited to perform some sort of final rites for the boy. The tall, muscular blond man entered the room, donned in dark clothes and a somber expression. His murmured words to the comatose young man were so faint that Annie could barely make out anything apart from a whispered "miracle." He glanced towards Dr. Hanji, the head doctor at Survey General, and shook his head sadly.

The equally solemn woman frowned and reached for the machine that was softly pumping air into Armin's lungs with a faint wheezing.

"Remo—"

_"Wait!"_ Annie made her decision. It was crazy; it was impulsive; it was so incredibly _not_ Annie Leonhardt. She was cold, calculated, and emotionless.

Hanji blinked at the young woman. "Wha—Miss Leonhardt? Do you want to say something?"

She had fallen in love with him. Both the impossible, warm Armin in her mind and the cold Armin lying motionless on the sterile, stark hospital bed. She couldn't imagine spending a moment without having his patient ear to confide in or his cool hand to hold. But somehow she couldn't vocalize any of this without making it sound like mad rambling.

"I—I want to marry Armin!" she blurted, cursing how stupid and juvenile she sounded. She half-expected Hanji to call security to remove her. "If I become this next official kin, then we can't take him off life support," she continued. The plan had seemed so unrealistic and impossible in her head, and she had never believed she would have the courage to say these words out loud.

There was silence in the room apart from the pitiful wheeze of the machine keeping Armin alive.

"I know this is difficu—"

"Can I do it?"

All eyes swiveled from Hanji to Annie to Reverend Smith. The holy man opened and closed his mouth before speaking. "I—I don't know how ethical this is…" he hesitated.

Annie narrowed her eyes at the man. Jean frowned and shrugged. "I don't see how it would bother Armin. I mean, he's in a _coma_."

"But is it right to keep him barely alive just so you could be happy? Doesn't it seem a bit _selfish?_"

The blonde froze and looked down at the sleeping young man. She had been so consumed by her desire to keep him alive that she had forgotten about what would have been best for Armin. She wanted the boy to be at peace, but keeping him alive by a machine wouldn't grant him his rest. Annie observed every sunken in facial feature and every pale patch of skin stretched over the young man's gaunt frame. For so long she had concealed his true appearance with the glamour of her dreams. He was dying; he was suffering.

_But if he dies, will I still dream about him? I don't want to lose him again._

_Again?_

_Why again?_

Annie twisted the silver ring around her sweaty pinky with a partly gapping mouth. _Again, _she echoed in her head, wondering why that particular word seemed to affect her so strongly.

_Once upon a time._ The voice in her head sounded vaguely like Connie, though the girl hadn't spoken to him in long time.

"Annie?" The voice jarred her from her thoughts.

"I—" Annie's shoulder's sunk in acceptance. "I'm sorry. I was being selfish. He deserves to be free."

_I will be brave._

Annie watched as Hanji again prepared to remove the tube from the young man's slightly parted mouth. Two twitching, tan fingers contrasted sharply as they pressed against the patient's withered, still, and pale wrist.

_I will be kind._

It seemed as if everything was moving in excruciatingly slow motion as Hanji gently pulled the ventilation tube from Armin's mouth and wordlessly unplugged the faintly wheezing machine. The loss of the mechanical whirl made the room deathly silent as everyone held their breath for the boy who had yet to take his own. The beeping on the heart rate monitor slowly lost its once rhythmic pulse and began to beat in a slower, weaker tempo. The boy's chest had yet to rise with his own breath, as he was still barely surviving off of the left over oxygen from the ventilator.

_—in the highest tower of all the lands—_

The beeping of the heart monitor had slowed to a weak pulse.

_—to break the spell with true love's kiss—_

"Pulse is steadily dropping."

Annie didn't know what she was doing. Connie's voice in her head was urging her to do something childish and ridiculous, but she couldn't stop herself from wishing for a miracle. One moment she was standing by his bed, and the next she was hovering over his pale, serene face. Annie took a deep breath and pressed her mouth against the boy's icy lips. Hushed whispers arose from the gathered crowd, but Annie preferred the disjointed noise to the deathly silent. She didn't know what she was hoping for, but the girl pulled slightly way from the young man's face to gaze at his calm features under her fluttering eyelashes. She felt the fine, dark hairs of her eyelashes sweep gently across the boy's cool skin. _Butterfly kisses,_ she thought wearily, remembering the childhood games she had played so many years ago.

_Once upon a t—_

"—ime of death," Hanji murmured, "4—"

_—ever and ever. The brave and kind knight and his princess._

Annie froze and suddenly pulled away from the boy's face with wide eyes and a slowly shaking head. The others averted their gazes, thinking this was merely Annie's final revelation.

"4:2—"

"_Wait!" _The breath against Annie's cheek had been so faint that she had almost believed it was her own.

Hanji glanced at the girl and her frown faded into a confused blink. Slowly the young man's chest struggled to lift itself to its maximum height and collapsed with a hoarse wheeze of breath. Again, his chest ballooned with air and released another breath with a gentler, less strained gasp.

He didn't wake up, but he was breathing on his own and that was enough of a miracle for Annie.

* * *

The next few days were stressful for everyone, though things were particularly bad for anyone who attempted to separate Annie from her blond patient. Armin had yet to wake up, but once he had squeezed Annie's hand in the middle of the night and when Annie woke up from her dream, the boy's serene face had flickered into a weak smile.

Annie still had difficulty believing this wasn't simply some horrible, twisted nightmare. The incredulous reactions from her coworkers only made the incidence seem more impossible. In fact, only a smug salesman in the gift shop seemed particularly unfazed by the event.

However, the afterglow of the miracle was starting to wear off on several of the blonde's coworkers and her cold, distant attitude was starting to become a bit grating. At the request of several others and a thinly veiled threat by Hanji, Annie reluctantly took two weeks off with the promise that should anything happen to Armin, they would contact her immediately.

When Annie returned after the thirteenth day (as she was unable to wait a full two weeks), the first place she went was where Armin had been resting for the past several years. The girl froze at the sight of an empty bed. She rounded on the nearest person, who unfortunately happened to be Bertholdt.

_"Where is he?"_

The taller man swallowed nervously, terrified by the slight girl who was nearly half his height. "I—"

"He's gone," Reiner announced, crossing over to the two nurses to aide his sweating friend.

"Gone?" Annie echoed, uncertain if she had heard him right.

Sasha and Connie suddenly appeared at the end of the hallway. _What are they doing here?_

"Good!" The former smiled with a loud clap of her hands. "I had a feeling you would come a day early. You're just in time!"

"Just in ti—_where's Armin?"_

No one answered the blonde's question as she was swept away by the excited chattering of Sasha and Connie. At some point, Connie's snickering laugh disappeared and was replaced by the soft, twinkling giggle of Krista, who worked with helping patients and loved ones adjust to change. Ymir, the hospital's head of security, followed at a close distance, watching Annie with narrowed eyes and crossed arms.

_What's going on?!_

Before Annie knew what was going on, the two more excited girls had pulled Annie's faded white sweatshirt over her head and replaced it with a gown made of crudely stitched bed sheets. Annie looked down at the white garment, opening and closing her mouth in shock. Part of her wanted to rip the sheets off in anger, but another part of her was unable to move.

A forceful shove from Ymir sent the girl stumbling towards the nearest door. However, before the girl could make her escape through the cracked door, Connie appeared holding something behind his back with a mischievous grin. Annie eyed him warily, but froze when the young man revealed what he had been hiding.

An obnoxiously shiny tiara fashioned together out of keychain fragments and cubic zirconium from the gift shop sat perched in the young man's hands. Annie tilted her head and studied the tiara with a confused expression. Something about it seemed familiar, although she was positive that Connie had just thrown together the ostentatious pieces within the past five minutes.

"It's lovely, it's it?" Connie asked, believing himself to be a far better jeweler than his talents seemed to suggest. "Almost like it's from a fairytale…" He watched her with his light bronze eyes and a faded smile on his lips.

Annie nodded slowly, thinking back to a particular dream with a wide eyed princess, a cackling wizard, and a bickering dragon. _Once upon a time…_

Connie slowly lifted the tiara and fixed it on the girl's head. Although the tiny metal fasteners bit into her scalp and tore at her hair, she did not fight the young man's actions. Instead, she stood completely still, fighting wave after wave of nostalgia and familiarity with a forced expression of blankness.

"You certainly look the part of the princess," Connie murmured, stepping back to admire his handiwork.

Annie's gaze snapped up and searched his face, but the boy gave away nothing with his slight smile. Instead he wordlessly gestured for her to follow him. Annie sluggishly followed the boy, each step bringing back deep-seated memories she had thought were only dreams.

When he opened the door, she was assaulted by a bright light, followed by awed gasping. Her eyes gradually adjusted and she realized with a start that she was surrounded by all of her coworkers—_no_…_friends?_ Their pleasant faces smiled at her encouragingly as the sudden revelation struck her.

She was standing on a makeshift aisle. She had to still be dreami—she slowly turned her gaze towards what awaited her at the end of the aisle. The young man's general appearance was gaunt and weak, but he smiled at her with the same, beautiful smile from her dreams. He was leaning heavily against Eren and his pinstripe pajamas hung loose on his thin frame, but he looked happy. She walked slowly towards him, deciding that maybe her decision all those weeks ago to marry him wasn't built solely on impulse, but also on something that had been burning in her soul for decades.

His eyes caught on the gaudy, flashy tiara perched on her head and in that instant, she realized it was never a dream. His bright eyes widened and his mouth fell into a shocked slack before he righted it into an even more radiant grin. He knew. She remembered. He took her hand in his own thin grasp and ran a warm finger over her ring and their promise.

Reverend Smith didn't even manage to finish the ceremony. He merely stepped back with a bemused smile as the two young lovers finally found each other after years apart with true love's kiss.

_Maybe Connie was right. Maybe happily ever afters do exist._

* * *

So, we all know who the real star of this fic was. E'rybody give it up for Connie "The Wizard" Springer!

Yes, it was beyond cheesy. Yes, it was dorky. Yes, it was probably technically/legally/medically impossible. _BUT ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?!_  
**Thank you so much to everyone who has supported this fic. I'm sorry if I caused you mental or physical anguish. **But not really.

(Technically, I've done my good deed with the AruAni fluff, so expect more angsty fics in the future...heh heh...)  
((Also, I may or may not continue this Survey General AU in the future. Maybe keep a look out for a new fic focusing solely on the others maybe sometime in the future...? I have big plans! Any of you JeanMarco shippers? }:] ))


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